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A Frenchman, suffering from a rare and incurable disease, broadcasts his death on social media, refusing to eat, drink or take medicine, after President Emmanuel Macron rejected his request for euthanasia.
Alan Cook, 57, who has suffered from a degenerative disease for 34 years, said he will post his death on Facebook starting Saturday morning.
“I finished my last meal … I drink in your health for the last time, the road to salvation begins, and believe me, I am happy,” says Cook in a video clip he filmed from his medical bed at his home in Dijon, east of France.
“I made my decision in peace,” he added.
He had written to Macron requesting that he be given a sedative to allow him to die in peace, but the president wrote explaining that this was not allowed under French law.
The countries bordering France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands have adopted laws allowing death with medical assistance in some cases. France, under pressure from the Catholic Church, resisted the measure.
“As I am not above the law, I cannot comply with your request,” Macron said in a message to Cook, which the Frenchman posted on his Facebook page.
Macron said: “His wish is to seek help for death, which is currently not allowed in our country.”
The Claes-Lyonetti End-of-Life Law, adopted in 2016, authorizes continuous, deep anesthesia until the patient dies, but only for people whose diagnosis is threatened in the short term.
Cook has called for a change in French law to allow medically assisted death in cases like his.
You are drip-fed and your digestive system is connected to the colostomy. His condition had caused an aneurysm in his brain and he said he would suffer seizures if he did not take his medication. And he suffers from constant pain.
